The use of certain bleach catalysts, particularly those comprising cobalt or manganese compounds, in detergent compositions has been previously suggested. A preferred way of incorporating such bleach catalyst components is in small particulate form. However, the direct incorporation of small bleach catalyst particles at typically very low levels into particulate detergent compositions can present problems. Such compositions typically, should be made up of particles having mean sizes which are all similar to each other in order to avoid segregation of components in the composition. Such compositions also often comprise particles having mean particles size in a defined range of from about 400 to about 2400 microns, more usually from about 500 to about 2000 microns, to achieve good flow and absence of dustiness properties. Any fine or oversize particles outside these limits must generally be removed by sieving to avoid a particle segregation problem. Fine bleach catalyst particles in a detergent composition matrix may also cause chemical stability problems caused by a tendency of the fine particles to interact with other components of the overall composition, such as other bleach components.
It has now been found that the above described problems may be surprisingly ameliorated by incorporating the bleach catalyst as composite particles in the form of micro-encapsulates which have a size distribution smaller to that of the other components of the particulate detergent composition, and which allow delivery of the bleach catalyst particle into the wash solution.